


Behind Your Back

by Sonzaishinai



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Superman (Comics), Superman - All Media Types, Superman/Batman (Comics)
Genre: (Attempted) Comedy, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Matchmaker Harvey, Nvm thats a lie, Oblivious Bruce, Occasional serious moments, Pining, Protective Harvey, Protectiveness, Too many phone calls, Very OOC, jealous Clark, kinda OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 08:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18517489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonzaishinai/pseuds/Sonzaishinai
Summary: Clark is jealous and an idiot. Harvey is protective and fed up. Bruce is in love and caught in the middle.





	Behind Your Back

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this instead of doing important hw, enjoy. There isn't really much focus on other characters. Mainly Bruce, Clark, and Harvey.
> 
> Very rushed, sorry
> 
> Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.

\--

 

“Penny for your thoughts?”   
  


“No.”

 

“A quarter?”

 

“Shut it, Bruce.”

 

“Wow. Rude. Not even a half dollar?”

 

Two-Face snorted from where he was standing at the center of the room, him and his henchmen keeping tight guard on literally every hostage except Wayne.

 

“Okay, now that was just fucking corny,” the criminal lazily spat out.

 

From where Clark was seated in the corners of the room, he watched the easy-going banter between his best friend, whose back was to him, and their captor. A nasty feeling reared at the sight- Clark was not amused. The fact that he could feel Bruce grinning effortlessly and genuinely didn’t do the feeling any good either.

 

“I can walk myself out if you just untie me.”   
  


“Bruce fucking Wayne you are literally the most obnoxious man I’ve ever- ugh, why do I even fucking bother crashing you and your god damned parties-”

 

“What’s that? Do I hear a chicken? Mannn, all this squawking and no ropes being untied!”

 

Around them, the henchmen began sweating nervously. ‘What the fuck,’ their eyes all screamed at each other. Clark would have burst out laughing at the sight of them exchanging glances with similarly bewildered hostages if the friendliness didn’t leave a sour taste in his mouth.

 

What the hell was Bruce doing being so buddy-buddy with Two-Face, anyways? They were being held HOSTAGE and here he was chatting it up with the perpetrator!!

 

“I will wire you back every penny of the ransom money that’s been transferred into my bank account _ if you just shut the fuck up, Bruce _ -”

 

“BUCKAW!!! BUCK-BUCK-BUCKAW!!! OH MY, WHO BROUGHT SUCH A ROWDY CHICKEN IN HERE, OH MY, OH DEAR!! ANYONE ELSE HEAR THAT?! BUCKAW!! JESUS, SOMEONE GET THAT THING UNDER CONTROL-”

 

“ _ WAYNE _ !!!”

 

Clark and all surrounding bystanders winced at the screeching between the two, hilarity and confusion reigning at Two-Face’s flushed but grinning visage and Wayne’s suicidal teasing. The henchmen wielding guns were torn between raising their guns unordered and ignoring their boss’s humility for their own sake.

 

“I think I deserve a medal- and freedom- for my comedic input.”

 

“You deserve a bullet in your head is what,” Two-Face muttered exasperatedly in response.

 

Besides the initial damage from when he was wrapped up in the takeover, no harm came to Bruce. In the wake of rescue, Clark was left with a lot to think about.

 

\---

 

“Here’s your change, Mr. Wayne,” the cashier numbly half-whispered, still in shock that the such a well-known billionaire was occupying her unremarkable family-owned store. It really was rather homey, though she’d never have predicted that a man like he would stroll in- followed by a timid, ill-dressed reporter as well considering the man’s known dislike for the press at times. “Your order will be ready in a moment. Feel free to sit anywhere,” she said, gesturing to the store empty save for a small group of gaping teenagers at the corner.

 

“Thank you, deary,” Bruce smiled, taking the change in hand and pocketing it. Except-

 

“Let’s sit by the window,” Clark said, making his way around a set of four tables to sit opposite to Bruce before hesitating and placing his bag in his seat instead. “Or actually, I’m gonna go over to the store section. I’m out of stuff at home- do you mind?”

 

Bruce waved him off and Clark trotted off behind the shelves of the conjoined store. 

 

When Clark returned, basket of items gathered, Bruce was rolling something around on his table. Something that dinged as it struck the nearby metal tray of condiments and foodstuffs and rung with reverberations on serrated edges as it rolled.

 

From afar, Bruce looked completely entranced, thinking, maybe.

 

Clark sat in his seat abruptly, failing to startle the billionaire who pocketed the half-dollar. If Bruce noticed his glare of disapproval, he made no mention towards it. Soon enough, the food arrived.

 

\---

 

“I have to go,” Batman grumbled out addressing the occupants of the Justice League conference room. “Certain matters in Gotham call to my attention. I’ll submit my reports later on.”

 

Clark frowned from his seat, irritated at knowing the exact cause for his best friend’s leave and rolling his eyes visibly.

 

Unfortunately for the Man of Steel, Batman noticed.

 

“Is there an issue, Superman?” There he goes; blunt and straight to the point as always. Never gentle or coaxing with him- not like he is with that damned Harvey. He swore, for being best friends, the man paid more attention to his nemesis than he did him.

 

“Nothing,” Superman admitted, “just a little bothered that you’re always so strict on us attending these post-battle debriefings, but don’t mind prioritizing a criminal over these.”

 

Silence hung heavy in the room and nobody dared to acknowledge the silent mouthings of “holy shit” between several of the members present. Eyebrows were raised and eyes wide. Not many people will brave- or stupid- enough to challenge the Bat like this. Save for Superman, of course.

 

Batman scowled distastefully, grinding out, “I wasn’t aware I needed your approval for such matters, Superman. I also wasn’t aware that you’ve been keeping tabs on me.” Clark’s jaw snapped audibly as his retort died in his throat. “Is that a recent development, perhaps?”

 

The threat and malice that lay in his voice’s undertone did not go unnoticed. Clark knew he’d crossed several lines with that revelation. He didn’t speak a word.

 

Bruce “hmph’d” with disappointment. Like he thought Clark knew better and he’d broken his trust.

 

For some reason, that hurt. A lot. Clark felt a tidal wave of shame and embarrassment crash up against his heart. Without so much as a word, Bruce took his leave, refusing to throw a glance back at Clark.

 

\--

 

“I don’t get it, Harvvvvv,” Bruce whined, pout evident even in his voice. “He’s been mad at me and I don’t know why! He can get pushy sometimes, but this is ridiculous!”

 

Behind the wall of glass, Harvey tossed the half-dollar lousily but did so with ease. A habit now, really. With his unscarred hand, he moved his white king up a square on the chessboard.

 

_ Shit _ , he cursed mentally, eyeing the rook across the board and his pawn a significant distance away from it.

 

“Well,” Harvey started, watching his friend gesticulate at the air wildly in frustration, “didn’t he make a remark about me? Maybe he doesn’t like you hanging around me.”

 

“Pfft,” Bruce smiled. “Even my public persona could’ve figured that out, Harv.” He moved the rook down to the bottom of the chessboard, even further away from Harv’s pawn.

 

“What I don’t get is why he’s so wrapped up in it.”

 

Harvey, desperate now, shifted his king away from the side of the board. In retaliation, Bruce moved his rook over to the column it now occupied. “Check.”

 

“Can we stop talking about your stupid crush already, Bruce?”

 

He picked up the king, ready to move it further from the edge when Bruce pointed out the Queen laying in wait, three diagonal squares away from the spot Harvey planned to place his King. Grasping for straws, the man placed the King in the square above the spot originally planned.

 

“It is  _ not  _ a crush.”

 

Bruce’s steady hand drew the Queen to the outcast of a pawn, devouring it and putting it in the King’s path yet again.

 

“Stop being a denying little bitch, Bruce, you  _ know  _ it’s a crush.” He moved the king upward, towards Bruce’s end of the board and cursed. Now he was trapped by the queen and rook. Bruce, though, for some odd reason, moved the rook into the King’s column.

 

“Okay, maybe it is.”

 

Harvey moved the king diagonally back to the side of the board again, out of reach of both the queen and the rook but effectively trapping himself yet again. Man, fuck it, he’s been trapped for a long time anyways.

 

“How much longer are you gonna pine after him, anyways? Not down for playing your Wayne charms on him?”

 

Bruce raised his eyebrow at him and moved the rook a square closer to the board’s edge, leaving only one column for the King to move around in. “I thought you didn’t wanna talk about him anymore?”

 

Harvey murmured, “I changed my mind, okay? That too much to ask for?”, bored now that he knew Bruce was only messing with his King, which he moved another square down.

 

“He’s different.”

 

“You said Selina was different, too.”

 

Bruce didn’t respond back. Only moved his Queen towards the edge of the board, one square away from the column the rook occupied. Harvey, in turn, moved a square down again, only postponing the inevitable and then Bruce followed up by moving the Queen away from him to the row below the King’s.

 

“Stalemate,” he uttered monotonously.

 

The man sitting opposite to him glared distastefully at Bruce. “Seriously?”

 

A silence, and then the playboy broke. He smiled back, huffing, “Seriously.”

 

“I honestly shouldn’t expect much else from you at this poi-”

 

“HEY!!” Both men turned their heads towards a guard shouting from down the hall, a little bit out of Harvey’s sight. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, WAYNE, HOW DID YOU GET IN?!”

 

Exasperated and in shock, Harvey turned back to Bruce. “You broke in?!”

 

From around them, different occupants of the asylum broke out into light laughter and snorts.

 

“I knew there was something suspicious- Wayne might be privileged, but not privileged enough to get to visit in a cell and not an interrogation room like every other person,” Riddler said with a smile on his face out of pride for his intelligent observation.

 

“Can it, Nygma!” someone down the hall shouted, eyes watching as the guard tugged on the billionaire’s arm and urged him to leave, telling him that he’ll only be let off with a warning if he told of how he got through.

 

Before Bruce’s body turned the corner, already talking dumbly a mile a minute to the guard, Ivy’s voice slithered out from the other side of the glass.    
  
“Brucie, darling, coming from the perspective of a lady, that crush of yours sounds jealous.”

 

A silence, and then a soft, almost hilarious whisper of “oh my god” before Bruce bolted out the containment area, guard on his heels.

 

Almost as quickly as the commotion started up, it silenced again.

.

.

.

“YOU- RUDE!!!” Harvey bellowed, neurons in his head finally making connections. “WERE ALL OF YOU LISTENING IN THIS ENTIRE TIME?!” He addressed the entirety of the surrounding admittees.   
  


“Yah,” everyone replied in unison followed by the shrill voice of Harleyquinn asking, “Two-Face, ya ain’t ever told me you were friends wit’a Billionaire!!”

 

“...Can it, Harley.”

 

\---

 

“So let me get this straight. You cornered him at work to ask him about his feelings, he dipped, you had a meltdown in the middle of a floor full of  _ reporters _ , and now there’s a  _ manhunt  _ out for him after the story got published, and you’re surprised he’s giving you the cold shoulder.”

 

“Well, when you put it that way-”

 

“Bruce, I’m gonna be straight up with you right now, I think you need to move past this idiot crush of yours.”

 

“Harv-”

 

“No, I don’t want to hear it Bruce! This guy sounds like a total dickhead!”

 

Harvey heard a heavy sigh on the other side of the phone. “You’re mistaken, Harv, he’s really nice if you’d get around to knowing him. He’s just been… acting up, lately.”

 

“Acting up because he doesn’t want you hanging around an old buddy!! I don’t know about you, Bruce, but that sounds very controlling if you ask me!! Not to mention, you say he often leaves when the both of you go out to lunch and leaves you to pay the bill!! Douchebag 101 right there, Bruce!!”

 

“He has his reasons, Harv,” the billionaire muttered. “I can’t blame him.”

 

God, Harvey was gonna get a headache. “Okay, Bruce, but let’s put things into perspective. You’ve been pining after this complete dumbass for a good five years now. I’m sorry to say this, but at this rate, there’s no hope to him-” he heard a snort far from the phone- “and I think you should stop trying chasing him.”

 

Silence on the other end.

 

“Don’t shut down on me, Bruce, god damn, can’t you see this is hurting you? I don’t like seeing you hurt, B, but this is ridiculous! Let that bastard go! Chasing him has done nothing but-”

 

A continuous ring from the other end of the line.

 

Bruce hung up.

 

Harvey sighed, setting down the phone in the receiver, movement watched closely by the two guards accompanying him.

 

Standing up, he held out his hands, ready to be handcuffed again to return to his cell and, right at the last moment, he shot out at them, punching them both unconscious.

 

“Sometimes,” he growled angrily, “if you want things done right, you gotta do em yourself.”

 

\---

 

Before he even entered the apartment, Clark was aware of the unfamiliar heartbeat seated on his scruffy couch. A peek in with his x-ray vision revealed a distasteful visage- the source of all his recent miseries.

 

He walked in, ignoring the busted-in door.

 

“Two-Face.”

 

“Kent,” the criminal bit back.

 

They had a stare-down, endured only by Clark because of his frequent stare-downs with Bruce when the man was stubborn.

 

“Give me one good reason not to call the police.”

 

Two-Face continue to stare at him blankly, exposed eye glinting with malice.

 

“Apologize,” he spat, and Clark looked at him incredulously.

 

“What?!” he exclaimed, eyebrow raised. 

 

“To Bruce. Apologize.”

 

Clark flustered. “What would  _ you  _ know about what’s going on between us?”

 

Harvey was getting really fed up at this point. Bruce was very stubborn, sure, but this guy was quite literally bull-headed. “Stop being such a fucking little bitch, Kent, I hope you realize I’ve known Bruce since we were kids. He’s upset because your dumb ass can’t own up to the fact that he has feelings for you and you’ve upset him. I don’t know if you’re a fucking nasty ass homophobe or what, you better give your apologies and tell it to his fucking face because, frankly, I’m sick and fucking tired of watching him get his heart broken by your inability to not be a fucking dickhead!”

 

Kent, instead of responding, stared back at Harvey dumbly, lips parted and eyes unfocused. For a long while, he didn’t speak, and then-

 

“Bruce has feelings for me?”

 

Harvey turned an expression of absolute exasperation and irritance towards the reporter, staring him down for a solid minute.

 

“You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

 

“No,” the timid man whispered.

 

Harvey blinked, opened his mouth as if to speak, shut it again, and then opened it again. “Fuck,” he uttered.

 

Standing to his full height with a couple of inches over Clark, he strutted out of the room, leaving the other man perturbed looking in the center of his broken-in living room.

 

\---

 

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” Bruce uttered worriedly, phone crushed against his ear and listening to the anxious rings, waiting for-

 

“Hell-”

 

“HARVEY!! What the HELL!? What did you mean by ‘Im sorry’?! DO you have ANY IDEA how worried I am!?! Are you okay!? Arkham Asylum thinks I helped you fucking escape, where the fuck are you, man?!”

 

“Calm your tits-”   
  
“ **_I WILL KEEP MY TITS AS UNCALM AS I WANT!!!_ ** ”

 

Silence on both ends of the line followed by a soft, “Woah. Um. Okay.”

 

Flushed and embarrassed, Bruce buried his face into his palm. “Goddammit- just- what was the text about, Harv?”

 

“I told Clark Kent about your crush.”

 

“Oh, that’s all? Seriously, goddamn Harv, you had me worried!! I thought you’d died or something or that you accidentally murdered someone again or you- YOU DID FUCKING WHAT?!”

 

“He told me about your crush.”

 

Bruce whirled around, phone clutched in his hand as his heart raced and- dear god- fuck-

 

“Woah, woah, woah, calm down, B-”   
  


“DON’T FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!”

 

“I’m sor-”

 

“I WAS WORRIED SICK TO DEATH BY THE  _ BOTH  _ OF YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!! WHAT IS THIS, A FUCKING ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT?! WERE THE BOTH OF YOU FUCKING PLANNING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK!?”

 

“Bruce-”

 

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THE FUCKING BOTH OF YOU!!” Bruce refused to admit that his eyes were watering up. “I HATE THE BOTH OF YOU!! FUCKING HELL!!”

 

“Bruce-”

 

“I TRUSTED YOU BO-”

 

His next words were cut off by soft lips intercepting his own, the taste of apple pie and scent of wheat and barley pacifying him. Starstruck and stunned, Bruce stood there, silently processing the fact that  _ Clark was kissing him _ -

 

“I’m sorry. For everything. For making you wait for me, for making you hurt, for being such an idiot that I never realized I had feelings for you too until it was all shoved in front of my face. I’m sorry, Harvey, for pissing you off with my stupidity and making you go through all that effort to let me know. I’m sorry.” He pressed his forehead against Bruce’s. “Please forgive me.”

 

Bruce sniffled and then giggled. “I had a whole fucking article written on how I had a meltdown because you left before I could confess to you and it had to take Harvey threatening you to make you find out I had feelings for you?”

 

Clark blushed, embarrassed. “Uh- I actually ran off because I realized my feelings for you the day before- I was afraid that I’d break down in front of you if you spoke to me. I went… home and didn’t read the newspapers or anything.”

 

Bruce stared dumbly across at the Man of Steel who towered over him by a couple of inches, tall enough that he had to lift his head a bit to look him straight in his goddamn  _ darting eye _ s-

 

“I don’t know about you,” Harvey’s voice filtered in from the phone held in Bruce’s hand, “but now seems like a good time to mention that you have a manhunt out for you, Kent. Bye.”

 

The call disconnected and Clark stared at the sleek device incredulously before he whipped his head towards Bruce. “I have a _what_ after me?!”

 

\--- The End ---


End file.
